“First of all, I do like you and Elianna. And you’re right about Blake. We can’t help but love her.” She glanced at Ava. “I just never looked at the situation from your point of view. I was still grieving Mom when Dad and Joanna married. Then, in some ways, I was grieving the loss of Dad, our relationship, the family we had for sixteen years. The months after Mom died, we got really close. Even after he connected with your mom, Dad and I were always there for each other. Then he married, adopted two little girls, and for first time ever, Ava—ever—I had to share him. And I didn’t want to share.”
“So we’re both guilty of not seeing each other’s side. For Ellie and me, Mom would tell us every day about how lucky we were to get a new dadanda sister. How we’d all love one another, and yes, disagree, but in the end, we’d have each other’s backs. Elianna and I were young when our dad died. We have so few memories of him. We loved Doug Quinn the moment we met him. And you know why? Because of you, Emery. He had one great daughter and believed he could have two more.” She looked toward the sound of the ocean. “But Mom didn’t prepare us for a sister who didn’t want to be a sister.”
“Well,” Emery said, swirling her wine, “thank goodness we’re sorting this out now. Do you realize we’ve spent more time talking about me and you than you and Jamie?”
Ava laughed softly. “This convo has been a long time coming,” she said. “Also, I recognize that Elianna and I were pretty annoying. I’m not sure I’d have appreciated us either in those early days.”
“You weren’tthatannoying. But at the time, I felt left out. Like Dad replaced Mom with Joanna, and me with you two.”
“Before Dad, Mom was sad all the time,” Ava said. “I used to hear her crying in her room. Then one morning, she came out for breakfast, smiling, and made us French toast, made us laugh. She’d connected with your dad the night before. Our whole lives changed from dark to light.”
“He is pretty great, isn’t he?”
“We have more in common than you think, Em. We both lost a parent. We love Dad. We’re professional businesswomen. We both run when we’re panicked.”
“Do you really think I run when I’m panicked? I went to college. I worked summers in Columbus. I came here for a job. How’s that panicked running?” Emery reached for the stick to stir the fire, but the last log was well on its way to embers. Without the heat, the courtyard grew cold.
“You were stuck. Nothing was happening for you.”
“I was not stuck.”
“Em, come on. The job you loved abruptly ended. You could no longer afford your beautiful apartment.”
“My lease ended.”
“You were writing freelance, which you hated. The only guy I remember you going out with made you pay for your meal. More than anything, you had to move into your parents’ house, into the bedroom you lived in for a hot second.”
“Wow, this is the beginning of a Shakespearean tragedy.” Emery laughed. “I was stuck, wasn’t I? Still, I deny that I ran away. Imovedaway. To college. To a new town.”
“Okay, okay, maybe I’m the one who runs. I’ve learned my lesson. Though when I woke up wanting to get away, you were the person I wanted to see.”
“I’m glad. And I mean it. So, what are your plans now?”
“My ticket is for Monday. There’s a hotel about five miles from here that has some rooms. I can take an Uber—”
“You’re staying with me.” With the fire dying, Emery motioned for them to head inside. “Little sister.”
“You do like me, don’t you? I knew it.”
“Okay, okay, don’t push it.” Emery wrapped her arm around Ava as they walked to the cottage. After all, shewasa big sister.
While she showered, Ava made Joanna’s Sophisticated Sips hot chocolate. They drank their mugs on the settee under the window.
“Mom was sitting here when she told me she was dying,” Emery said softly. “She gave me the pearls that night.”
“What was she like? Your mom?”
“Like yours, to be honest. Loving, but didn’t take a lot of guff. Being a bank VP, she could be very direct and businesslike. She was the prettiest mom at my school, at least to me. Adored the snow. She used to brush my hair all the time, which I loved.” She stretched her foot to Ava’s leg. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” Ava set down her hot chocolate, and said she’d be right back. Ten seconds later, she returned with a boar bristle brush. “May I?”
Emery’s eyes filled. “Yes” was all she could manage.
On the settee where Mom used to sit, Emery’s sister brushed her hair until she drifted to the space between awake and asleep, to the place in her memories where Mom still lived.
EMERY
Then . . .
